“This is the most serious issue in Rio and the state is doing a terrible, horrible job,” Eduardo Paes, mayor of Rio, said of the city’s crime in a recent interview with CNN.
In recent days, schools have been closed, dozens of people have been shot and body parts have washed ashore near the Rio’s Olympic beach volleyball site.
“It’s completely failing at its work of policing and taking care of people,” Paes continued.
Rio’s oceanic waters and bays are heavily polluted, included the locations where the long-distance swimming and sailing competitions will occur. The pollution, according to a study done by the Associated Press, has toxified the waters so much that they are unsafe for Olympic competitors.